GAMMA (Gelinas Academy of Mixed Martial Arts)

Downtown Montreal’s GAMMA is one of Canada’s top MMA training facilities

GAMMA stands for the Gelinas Academy of Mixed Martial Arts. Owned and operated by Philip Gelinas, GAMMA is a top of the line facility offering the best in martial arts training including some of the fastest rising martial arts in the world today. Located in the heart of downtown Montreal, GAMMA has established itself as one of the best training facilities in eastern Canada. Philip’s gym has been open since 1983, but GAMMA was established approx 12 years ago. In August 2007 is when GAMMA relocated to their new location in the heart of beautiful downtown Montreal, Quebec Canada. Currently, GAMMA has a few hundred members.

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Facilities

GAMMA offers over 8,000 sq.ft of training space which includes:

A large grappling area, boxing ring and several training areas

Conditioning area with a wide variety of equipment including cardio machines and weights

Basically, just about everything you need for an intense martial arts training experience

Training & Store

GAMMA is also home to Brazilian Top Team (BTT) Canada, which is one of the best Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and MMA programs in Canada. With a recent series of victories in the UFC, TKO and other MMA organizations, their fighters are proving why BTT Canada is helping to put Quebec MMA on the international MMA map. BTT Canada at GAMMA is led by BJJ Black Belt Fabio Holanda, who has taught dozens of world champions in both BJJ and MMA.

GAMMA Gear is an in house store, offering top of the line martial arts clothing and equipment from some of the best brands in the business.

Our tour

Just hours prior to UFC 83 in Montreal, Philip was gracious enough to allow staff members at MMATraining.com to take a tour of his wonderful facility and discuss his gym with him.

As our tour began, Gelinas discussed the fact that Montreal has deep roots in martial arts and he has been involved in martial arts since 1967, when he got his start in Japanese Karate. Philips opinion is that martial arts began to really move forward when the Gracie family moved to Los Angeles and began to challenge and beat everyone with their form of Jiu Jitsu. Then the UFC came along shortly after and things really took off.

As we continued our tour we could not help but notice the level of professionalism everyone at GAMMA showed: towards us and their students. On that particular Saturday GAMMA was hosting a seminar taught by Bruce Lee’s former top student Dan Inosanto. Gelinas noted, “I thought we would get 30 students out. I didn’t want to make any money off the seminar, I just wanted to pay for it. Well, 55 students showed up, which was great for everyone.” If Gelinas love for the sport and his student was not evident already, it was after this.”

As we moved on, we noted Plasma screens littered the gym. This would be a nice addition to any martial arts school, as one would be able to watch their moves from a previous session or fight and walk through their performance onsite.

Army of Top Pros

GAMMA’s stable of students is one of the most decorated in the world. GAMMA is the current home for the UFC’s George St. Pierre’s Brazilian Jiu Jitsu training. UFC top contender Patrick Cote is a GAMMA trained fighter. In the lobby of the school are pictures from December 2007 when fighters from Greg Jacksons camp came up to Montreal to train with St. Pierre, and trained at GAMMA. Our favorite picture was one with Gelinas, St. Pierre, UFC fighter Rashad Evans, UFC fighter Nate Marquardt and Canadian stand out Denis Kang.

Young TKO prospect Samuel Guillet is trained by the group at GAMMA, along with a long list of high quality martial artists. The gym is filled with Judo and BJJ black belts, along with top teachers in each discipline.

Tour winding down

As the tour was coming to an end we ran into professional MMA fighter Nabil Khatib, who was getting a boxing workout in before the UFC that night. Khatib is an Ottawa resident and a title contender in Hardcore Fighting Championships welterweight division. Khatib is the owner operator of Team Bushido, a new MMA gym opening in Ottawa in the summer of 2008. Please see here for more details www.teambushido.com.

The staff at GAMMA was professional and gracious to allow us to tour their facility. We would recommend this gym to anyone who wanted to get involved in martial arts, no matter what level of skill they posses. We’d like to thank GAMMA and Mr. Gelinas for taking the time, (on their busiest weekend of the year) to show us around and make us feel welcome.

GAMMA’s website really sums it up best: “The best thing about GAMMA, is that everyone who trains here leaves their attitude at the door. Different gyms have different philosophies, we let our training and our technique do the talking. We can accommodate just about every training need, from the serious martial artist or fighter, to the casual everyday person just looking for a really kick butt workout.”